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Crowd gathers for national horse ride

Missouri rider Paul Sidio is competing in the Tom Quilty Cup for the first time with horse Sid, who has completed the event twice.

Eliza Rogers

More than 250 riders have nominated for this year's Tom Quilty Gold Cup endurance horse ride at Kilkivan, near Gympie in southern Queensland.

The ride, known as the largest horse endurance ride in the Southern Hemisphere, kicks off at midnight tonight and riders have 24 hours to complete a 160-kilometre course.

Kilkivan hasn't hosted the event since 2008, and organisers worked hard this year to bring flood-damaged grounds up to standard.

The small town's population is expected to swell by five times to 2,000 as support teams and spectators flock in.

Riders have come from New Zealand, America, Japan, France and England to compete.

Anne Barlow is the treasurer of the Kilkivan Endurance Riding Club, which is hosting the ride.

She told of the folklore behind the event - that 48 years ago, Queensland cattleman Tom Quilty and mate RM Williams debated over a whether the measure of a good horse was its ability to ride 100 miles a day.

The tale goes that Tom put up the Gold Cup as a reward, and the event was born.

The horses have to undergo rigorous vet checking before, during and after the ride, monitoring gum and skin condition, girth, gait, heart rate, and temperature.

They must be fit to start, pass a stringent trot-out, pass tests after each of the five race legs, then a final check at the end.

Mrs Barlow says it's not compulsory for horses to be vaccinated against Hendra because they come from a range of areas where Hendra isn't recognised as a concern.

But owners have to take their horses' temperatures much more regularly.

"Our vets have decreed that we would take temperatures of our horses for ten days morning and night before they come to the event," she said.

"We normally do it three days before the event, so the horses are very used to having a thermometer shoved up their bottom."

Rider Paul Sidio, 63, has made the long trip from Missouri to compete for the first time this year.

He liaised with friends in Australia to participate, and borrowed a horse from NSW he says has competed the Tom Quilty ride twice.

"I heard that Quilty was a great party and wonderful ride," he said.

"It's the ultimate challenge of horsemanship; you have to keep your horse together."

Mr Sidio says he has to adjust his body, which is nine time zones away, and keep hydrated.

He says there's no "big purse" involved so riders just compete for the love and skill of it.

"To finish is to win; if you can complete this ride, you've already won. I'm confident there are more people that have reached the summit of Mt Everest than have completed this ride."

The ride starts at midnight tonight and the winner is expected to cross the finish line at midday tomorrow.